Motorola XOOM review

The Motorola XOOM isn’t the first Android tablet, but in a way it kind of is the first Android tablet. It runs Google’s latest OS designed exclusively for tablets, and the difference between Honeycomb and earlier versions of Android on a tablet is night and day. The XOOM is a beautiful 10.1-inch device powered a dual-core processor, dual cameras, loads of memory, and it’ll soon be 4G-capable on the nation’s most reliable network — who could ask for more? I’ve been testing the Motorola XOOM for a few days, and I’ve definitely put this sleek new slate through the paces. Hit the jump for BGR’s full review.

Hardware / Design

The Motorola XOOM is wrapped in high quality materials including soft-touch aluminum, Gorilla Glass and sturdy plastic, and it feels extremely solid. It’s slightly (literally a few grams) heavier than Apple’s iPad, though it feels a tad heavier because it’s a bit thicker in the middle. What’s very interesting about the XOOM, and most announced tablets that are running Google’s brand new Honeycomb OS, is that there isn’t a ton of hardware differentiation since all menu keys are now soft keys in the operating system. Motorola has definitely added some useful customizations to the XOOM, however. For example, I love phones that have LED notification lights and Motorola’s XOOM does it up in style with a little glowing notification bar. It’s a very small — maybe 1/4-inch — white strip on the top part of the right side, and it’s awesome. In addition to the notification bar, Motorola has a “privacy indicator” (read: red LED) that lights up next to the front-facing 2-megapixel camera to let you know it’s on.

As far as specifications go, the Motorola XOOM zooms (sorry). It touts a spec brigade you could only dream of a year or two ago: a 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 10.1-inch WXGA 1280 x 800 resolution display, a 5-megapixel rear camera with 720p video recording, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, HDMI 1.4 out, 32GB of built-in storage, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, an accelerometer, magnetometer, gyroscope and even a barometer. The tablet also includes a microSD card slot, though it doesn’t function yet. Motorola tells us it will be enabled with an OTA software upgrade at some point in the future. Additionally, the Motorola XOOM will be fully upgradable to 4G for free for all customers, but we’re hearing users will need to ship your unit somewhere as opposed to walking into a Verizon Wireless store and having the upgrade performed there. This hasn’t yet been confirmed, however.

There are volume up and down keys on the left side of the tablet, a 3.5mm headset jack on top, a microUSB port, mini-HDMI out port, and… a charging port. That’s right, the Motorola XOOM is unable to be charged via traditional microUSB chargers or USB, and requires it’s own proprietary charger you have to lug around. The accessories that are available with the XOOM — such as the Standard Dock ($59.99)and Speaker HD Dock ($149.99) — will oddly charge the tablet through the microUSB port, however. The unlock / power on / off button is on the back of the device, and while it’s not the end of the world and I was able to locate it pretty quickly most of the time, it’s definitely not as easy as having it right in front of you.

Also of note, the battery on the Motorola XOOM is incredibly good. In standby mode, the tablet can go for days and days, and in my testing it came very close to matching the iPad in normal usage.

Random annoyance: in daily use, when picking up the XOOM, I can hear a weird clicking sound that comes from the back of the device. It’s extremely faint, though worth mentioning because it’s annoying. It’s possible that it’s just my review unit.

Display

The Motorola XOOM’s display is swathed in Gorilla Glass and is very bright (especially in manual mode; I noticed the tablet tends to err on the side of being too dim than too bright most of the time with auto-brightness enabled), and colors are rich. Text generally looks good, though pages rendered in the Web browser looked a bit blurry and unclear — and that includes photos as well as text. The touch sensitivity on the device was exceptionally good in my tests. It’s responsive and very accurate. Motorola seems to be using a new capacitive layer that’s different than the one it uses on its smartphones, and though we couldn’t get a photo of it due to lighting (it’s barely visible), you can faintly see little copper triangles overlaid on the display.

The black plastic bezel surrounding the display on the XOOM is a decent amount thinner than the bezel on an iPad, and while I like the idea of a thinner bezel, it makes holding the tablet in one hand pretty difficult due to the XOOM’s weight and thickness. I’m not saying the XOOM is thick and heavy, I’m just saying that the limited surface area to grip with your thumb makes one-handed use a tad uncomfortable.

OS

You can almost think of Android 3.0 Honeycomb as a brand new operating system for all intents and purposes, though it does run existing apps pretty well. As far as the UI goes, it’s dark and much more unified than any previous Android release. The home screen has five pages that form a sort of virtual wall of five boxes that are swipeable to the left and right. There’s an ever-present Google search button and voice search button in the upper left corner, and in the upper right corner is the button to open the apps drawer along with a button to add app shortcuts, widgets, or change the wallpaper of your home screen.

Navigation in the new OS is done exclusively using soft buttons that take a little getting used to. One plus is that they rotate with the display so they’re always in the same position (the bottom right), though not everyone will be a fan of these, we think. There is one button that didn’t make the cut in the transition to soft keys and that’s the menu button. It’s been removed because there is a menu button in the upper right corner in apps, and while it’s a little strange at first, it definitely works as part of the tablet experience as a whole.

Gmail and other apps with the two-column layout look and work incredibly well, and are desktop-grade in my opinion. Switching to the browser, and well, it’s pretty much like having a full-fledged Chrome browser on your tablet. Your bookmarks sync effortlessly, the browser renders pages very quickly. Adobe Flash support doesn’t ship on the device, contrary to the XOOM’s advertised specs, though it will be coming in the near future (10.2 instead of 10.1 in a couple weeks, most likely).

Notifications have been redone, and honestly, I’m a bit sad. I loved the drop down shade setup in Android, though I can see how it might not be that practical on a 10-inch tablet. Growl-like notifications now appear in the lower right corner of the device and will stack up on top of each other as they appear. Following each initial notification, messages then reduce to small icons that represent each message in the status bar. You can quickly get rid of notifications by tapping the “X” next to each one, and the remaining ones will fall on each other to fill any resulting gaps.

As much as Google’s OS has improved, I still found the software a bit clunky to use at times — not because of a lack of processing power or RAM, but because it’s not always as straight forward as alternative platforms. It’s almost as if Google decided to try and pack as much in as possible to advance the tablet category forward, yet I;m not sure it has succeeded entirely. I want a tablet that’s powerful and that works as it should with minimal effort, and I kind of feel like Honeycomb is a bit scattered for my taste.

Conclusion

I’m not sure how much better an Android tablet can get right now — and this is the first one we’ve reviewed here at BGR. The Motorola XOOM packs a serious punch, and doesn’t have room to store an ice pack. I love that Motorola has been pushing forward with innovate ideas and concepts, most notably with the ATRIX 4G, and the XOOM isn’t an exception. It features great hardware, impressive specifications, and the latest Android OS designed just for tablets. There are many things to rave about with the XOOM, though there were some annoyances and frustrations that stemmed from Google’s OS for the most part and not from Motorola’s hardware.

Tablets are the new craze, and while they are selling, I personally still don’t see a huge need to have a tablet. As a toy used to discover new and incredible apps, and to use for 20 or 30 minutes a day to read and catch up on Twitter or do some emailing, sure. But the XOOM definitely can’t replace a laptop. I think that the Motorola XOOM is a great product, I’m just not 100% sold on Honeycomb at this point as an operating system. I don’t believe it’s very innovative, and I don’t find it to be any better than alternatives in terms of ease of use, intuitiveness, or wide availability of apps. With that said, the Motorola XOOM goes on sale tomorrow in the U.S. for $599 with a two-year service agreement, and I’m sure plenty of people will thoroughly enjoy it despite the aforementioned shortcomings.

The software is not ‘the problem’. It’s simple familiarity; they say the same thing about Android.

It’s not smart people’s fault if some users would prefer a static row of icons to customizable software. And, oh yea…I’d like to see Apple come up with a completely differentiated version of iO/S in a relatively short period of time, and not have a few complaints about certain aspects of it. But they’re not.

rob

why would they? im pretty sure one of their big selling points is that you already know how to use it.

LOLcat

@ indio7777

Do you know how stupid you sound blindly putting down one OS while attempting to prop up another. iOS has its strengths, as does android. The problem is, each version of android feels like a half baked beta whereas iOS feels well thought out and complete. It is not unreasonable for users to want a mobile experience that feels finished. That most apps do not have a quit option, and you have to press back many times is TERRIBLE

http://twitter.com/white_shadow001 Zach White

@lolcat
Ok iOS isn’t well thought out, its an overbloated phone os. Iown an iPad 2 and I can clearly say this thing is as boring as they come. I used to love Apple products but now they seem like they’re just trying to milk money out of people and make them think they are getting the best, in all actuality iOS is extremely outdated now. Get it through your head Apple isn’t the best anymore sorry

http://profiles.google.com/jfarleyku Jonathan Farley

@Zach White –

iOS started out and remains an iPhone operating system whereas Android(pre Honeycomb) was a phone operating system. Difference? The iPhone IS basically a tablet, albeit a smaller one, not just a phone with gobs of features. There were just two massive updates to iOS within the last 2 weeks, so outdated? Nah, not really, but you can feel free to try as many times as you like. Honeycomb is like walking into a retail store 3 weeks before it is due to open, yeah most of the inventory is there, but nothing is organized, and it looks and feels like crap. Xooms will sell about 100k units and the fad will fizzle. iPads are here to stay, and as much as it might sting to hear, nothing is de-throning them anytime soon. Sorry.

http://profiles.google.com/jfarleyku Jonathan Farley

Right, iPad is 1.5, but the comparable tablet, the iPad 2 is 1.2 or 1.3, so BAM. WINNING iPad 2!

Anonymous

Perhaps that explains why the battery doesn’t last as long, even before the 4G and Flash installation. Mossberg’s test had the thing conk out at 7.5 hours; the iPad lasted 11. Not surprisingly, both Motorola and Apple claimed a battery life of 10 hours. . .looks like Motorola overestimated. . .by 33%.

Labrat

I think that’s too early to tell for battery life. The test he performed is extremely non scientific, at best (what’s the max luminosity of both screens, what were the settings on Wifi and 3G for sleep, CDMA vs GSM, etc etc). I will wait for Anandtech or someone to do a proper one.

Considering this has a dual core, more pixels, larger screen, etc. I am pleased with the battery life of this machine.

That being said, I expect Apple to stay king of the hill for battery life, their tightly controlled ecosystem, one single design, hardware/software integration is very helpful in that department!

Anonymous

engadget tested the battery life and running a looping video with wifi and other things on at 65% brightness they got 8 and a half hours

Anonymous

And Anandtech got 9+, while they measured the iPads slightly high than the 9+ range. Obviously, there’s a lot of inconsistency here but I trust no one other than Anandtech to give an objective review of any product or tech.

serpentor

I just can’t trust Mossberg’s review of Apple products or their competitors.

Darwin

Then you haven’t read very many. He has been negative to some Apple products.

Anonymous

Likewise, clear bias in this article.

Em

Wrong. Idiot.

heyhey

who cares about its weight……it’s crappy ugly tacky buggy software….they touted flash till the cows went home and yet surprise surprise !!! no flash on launch……..mark my words, flash will be available on touchpad before it comes to this thing……and now there’s another catch: the tablet has to be sent to factory to be upgradeable to 4g…i wonder why? could it be that the tablet is actually NOT upgradeable in its CURRENT state and that there was some false advertisement going on? who not upgrade at a verizon store? maybe there are parts that need to be added/removed??? shady

Gorgon

It’s fairly obvious that the Xoom doesn’t have any user accessible ports to access the 3G radio. So it makes sense that you would send this away to a service center to have it properly opened, remove the 3G radio and replace it with a 4G radio. There’s also a software component of the upgrade to support the 4G radio. Do you really believe the unit isn’t upgradable? Then you expect them to just sent you back a new 4G tablet with all your information on it and scrap the 3G version? Think before you post.

http://twitter.com/Davva360 David Moore

It is upgradeable but initially it was implied it would be a software update and apparently it is a hardware update. I think this is a great alternative to the ipad, Honeycomb looks promising, but they should have finished building it before they released it. It certainly put me off, together with the price and the fact there is no wifi version.

It just seems rushed, as if beating ipad 2 to market was more important than releasing a polished product.

So have you tried to use Flash on it? I have. Calling it “Beta” would be kind. Buggy, slow, and you can actually watch your battery level drop while running a Flash video.

zukidrvr

No mention of multi-tasking? Does it? If so, how does it do it?

Droid Cell-er

I am surprised that there was not a mention of the multi-tasking–I think it is one of the biggest features. One of the soft keys on the main screen shows the last 5 or 6 most recent apps when tapped. Small windows appear on the left and the user is able to easily tap to switch back to the selected app. I got mine on launch day–and I am thrilled with it…I am a Mac user, but the iPad doesn’t cut it tablet-wise. This is the s&^%!

Clarkspot

Zoom is heavier than ipad2

http://twitter.com/BurtonBoy147 Jerome Villanueva

Who f’ing cares! iPad still rules!

http://twitter.com/ctjewett Christopher Jewett

I know this is an old post, but never-the-less, I’ve been comparing this and iPad 2 for a while now. Let me say, the Xoom’s smaller feel makes it *feel* heavier than the original iPad, and significantly heavier than the iPad 2.

That said, it’s screen seemed sharper, if dimmer, than the iPad/iPad 2. Using the OS seemed to me much more confusing than the Android phones that I’ve played around with in the past. It definitely does NOT have that K.I.S.S. (keep it simple, stupid) feel of going from an iPhone to an iPad, where it’s just a scaled up, larger experience with a few more graces and nice touches geared toward larger screens. The lack of physical buttons felt awkward to me, but I understood the reasons for it. The OS to me felt more desktop than mobile phone, which I can’t help but think is a good thing once you get used to it. I’m just not used to it, yet.

Especially since the iPad 2 can’t be found anywhere right now, I think it makes sense to just pick up the WiFi only version that’s shipping now from Costco, with its generous 90 day return policy, decide whether I like it enough keep it, and if so either stick with the WiFi only version, or return it for the 4G LTE Verizon Model (once the 4G becomes unlocked.) It’s a bit disappointing that so many hardware features were shipped out of the box disabled. In the rush to beat iPad 2 to market, I think some of the software is a little half baked, but I’m hoping this being Google’s premier Android 3.0 model, it’ll have frequent software updates.

As a fan of Apple products I gotta say you are a loser. Grow up and post something meaningful for once.

Anonymous

Ok crApple troll. sTFU!

Darwin

Child

George W.

I am with you man don’t listen to the haters!!!

Anonymous

are you retarded?

Anonymous

DROID DOES it again baby!! How wet are you right now? It’s a good time to be a Goofan!!!!!

Anonymous

Wet and hard! Is that possible? For a goofan (aka apple hater)? Yes!!!

Anonymous

Wow, goofan? You’ll never experience the touch of a woman.

serpentor

Norm, you know moto is using stock honeycomb, right?

I mean, I know you’re a big fan of Droid OS.

Anonymous

Droid does what again? Slow choppy laggy software. That you have too reboot every day. Does a 4-5 hour battery life? Get’s put on a phone and now a tablet and the next week it outdated. Give’s you the update when they feel like giving it to you. Yes droid has done it again.

nathan118

That’s funny….my Nexus One is over a year old and actually runs better NOW than when it came out. The phone actually gets BETTER with age!

dima

I will buy you and every one of your extended family members a XOOM if this thing even posts half of the sales volume the iPad does in 2011

Daboochmeister

You mean, the Xoom posting half the sales, or all Android tablets? If you mean the latter, I’ll take you up on it … heck, last quarter last year, Android tablets posted over a quarter the sales of the iPad (~22% to ~78%), and that was with only 1 big-name model available (Galaxy Tab).

Anonymous

I think you may be wrong. Shipped maybe, but sold is another matter. The issue will be the cost. The problem is that the honeycomb tablets can do only one of two things… Either use crappy components to hit the price point. Or add loads of features which require hardware to support them and therefore be expensive.

Btw the Samsung figures? That was bad math. Relying on Samsung’s definition of “sold”. Either way I don’t expect Apple to fall below 50% this year as Apple appear to have put their money where their mouth is to secure 60% of all touch screen fabrication for the next year. (yes I know that Apple have different sized screens but the manufacturers lines are tied up)

The bigger worry for Android fans is that Honeycomb isn’t ready. Heaven forbid the Xoom is definitely not ready and it’s shipping date was obviously set by the management and marketing depts rather than the technicians. So Motorola release a half-baked product that barely works.

No Flash (not Motorola’s direct fault, as they were relying on a third party (Adobe) for delivery of a feature. This is not really an issue other than the fact that this was Motorola’s main selling point over the iPad.

No 4G. Really? Why the F*** do you ship a product that doesn’t have it’s other main feature? How can anyone really see this as a positive. The accountants at MMI must be having a hissy fit with this one. Release a product that you are going to have to recall in 90 days to physically upgrade the hardware?

No SD card access. We’ve built the hardware but the software doesn’t address it. I really don’t see how you can advertise a feature and then ship it turned off. Sounds like a reasonable basis of a false advertising claim if you ask me.

Shipping hardware a mere 2 days after the official release of the SDK. There are 16 apps available as of Friday, not counting the very few apps that Motorola or Google included with the initial release (I think someone mentioned the figure 3 as to the number apps that come pre-installed)

Here’s the thing. Pop into Best Buy and have a play. Fun thing to try: Load the Books app and change the orientation of the Xoom. It must takes something in the range of 10-15 seconds to respond to that gesture. And this thing has a dual core processor running at 1.2 gigs? Really? Heaven forbid what honeycomb is going to run like on a single core processor.

FInally. The price. 800 dollars. That is 300 dollars more than the entry level iPad. “but but but but it has so many extra things that the entry level iPad…” Irrelevant. If you want an iPad you can get one for 500 bucks. If you want a Xoom you need to pay 60% more just to get involved. But it is actually worse than that. You appear to be shelling out all that case to be a Beta tester for both Motorola and Google. That requires a special group of people. People who hate Apple and people who have a spare 800 bucks to throw at something that isn’t finished. That Venn Diagram is pretty small I fear.

Anonymous

The ipad killer has not arrived yet? It arrives march 2nd.

Anonymous

Can you even afford the xoom?? Gaayfan (aka DroidScum)

Anonymous

Are you not here very much? GooFan uses a special form of humor to illustrate a point. Don’t get sucked in he doesn’t literally mean what he says.

http://twitter.com/ProZack27 Zachary Sloane

Somehow I doubt that. Wanna make a wager? I’ll even give you 10:1 odds.

http://twitter.com/ProZack27 Zachary Sloane

Somehow I doubt that. Wanna make a wager? I’ll even give you 10:1 odds.

Anonymous

Verizon and Motorola really made this product launch a failure with poor pricing and stupid annoyances. This is what you get when get a network carrier to be the middle guy.

Agentdapc

What annoyances?

http://twitter.com/Davva360 David Moore

SD doesn’t work, 4G is a hardware update, 6 business day turnaround, advertised as working with FLash but it doesn’t. It was rushed to market because they wanted to beat ipad 2 to market and as a result the thing is half finished.

Mwrd1021

And yet blind Apple followers buy iPads that will never have an sd card or (most likely) never have flash… hm..funny huh?

thats pretty much the definition of a blind fan boy. Your willing to buy a product that hasn’t even been announced yet (but will most likely be less powerful than this) than actually even consider an alternative product? wow.

http://twitter.com/greek_iphone Greek iPhone 

This is Apple’s idea – Apple start it and except that “iPad 2” isn’t out yet. Motorola should have wait.

mobuksh

What was that?

Anonymous

Lol! What the hell is this guy saying????? Typical apple fanboy, incoherent!

Tcallahan06

BGR?? How could you say Honeycomb is not innovative but in the ipad review you dont mention how uninovative it is?? Your site is a biased fucking joke

http://www.bgr.com Jonathan Geller

My point was it’s not innovative enough to warrant buying it in its current state. It’s buggy, doesn’t flow, and is confusing to most normal users. iOS appeals to way more people even though it technically is less capable in many ways.

SPACE_V

Android Honeycomb isn’t buggy. and is very smooth.

Sosa614

You havent even used it…..you just seen videos that have been tailed to look good for Promotional use.

Cainess

Thits rite its isn’t buggie :)

——————–
Posted from my Honeycomb Tablet

Anonymous

There are several other review up on the web now.
They all mention the OS feels rushed and is very buggy with frequent force closes

Anonymous

Don’t argue with the trolls….its pointless

Timmy

If that wasn’t your point, then you should take your job as a reporter more seriously and actually write what you meant.

” I’m just not 100% sold on Honeycomb at this point as an operating system. I don’t believe it’s very innovative” seems pretty strait forward to me…

Not innovative? Shame on you.

Dave DaDude

Why don’t you take your life seriously and stop basing your life decisions on what a tech blog says. You guys on this site really need to get a life!

serpentor

He’s a blogger, not a reporter. But I actually think even less of reporters.

Anonymous

Jesus! BGR is not perfect but come on!

Timmy seriously as a poster on a blog you should really learn how to spell:

“strait forward” ???

Shame on you!

nathan118

What exactly is buggy or confusing? Don’t think you mentioned a single thing. No mention of the scrollable widgets, or how this can be customized to heck?

Timmy

Not even one mention of widgets. Hardly a review at all. It’s apparent they wanted to be the “first” to put out a review.

serpentor

Seeing as how this is the first honeycomb device this review should have been as much or more about the OS.

Also, did you take the XOOM pics BG? They look shiit.

serpentor

BG, I think some of your issues with HC is it’s new and you’re just not use to it.

You say iOS is easier to use for most people. That maybe true, but first 2 iPhones I used I felt like throwing the POS against the wall. 1. because it was a new UI and 2. because it’s designed for retards.

Anonymous

iOS “appeals to way more people”? Is that based upon some sort of empirical analysis? Some large study?

No, you’re just full of shit. You just injected “what I know is the right way” nonsense.

Dan

Moron, the ipad is a year old. First tab of its kind. Xoom is a follower, as it turns out a decent one. Im a fan of all quality products. I cant stand morons though posting on the internet.

SPACE_V

in 1 week pad2 will be Xoom’s follower.

Dan

Perhaps. You know what? I hope it is. Unlike most on this site im not a fanboy till death and will choose a product thats best. Not by brand.

Anonymous

don’t be rude now…damn bro….are you mad?

Steve

I like how in such reviews Android sweet products everytime are dirty (dust, fingerprints, bad light, bad photos) + nothing can be called innovative, everything should be called buggy, slow, not selling, unintuitive, battery life (pad1 battery is 6,5 hours) always is awful or not as in specs, every ‘-‘ is the biggest mistake. Any device doesn’t deserve attention, to be bought, to be successful. Only Appple. Only Appele. Only Applle. Everywhere.

10/10. Hasn’t anything that people need except apps? 10/10. 4:3 screen? 10/10. No Flash? 10/10. No HDMI? 10/10. Great product. 30 million this year. 100 million in 2012. 600 million in 2013. 10/10. No SD? 10/10. Ipad2 is greater than pad1! 10/10. The same scaled IOS? 10/10! It’s intuitive and simple. Bigger speakers? 10/10. This changes everything. Rear camera? 10/10. Photos? 10/10. Case? It’s so sleek and inovative! 10/10. NFC! Nobody has it! Done right! 10/10. All current 4G isn’t 4G. When Apple will implement 4G, it will be right 4G. 10/10.

How Apple products would be sold with reviews like THIS?

Xoom is an outstanding device. Honeycomb is beautiful and innovative, created from the ground OS for tablet computers. I want Xoom. It’s a pure awesomeness.

Dave DaDude

Listen to this assbag down talk the iPad, since you’re so great, why don’t you invent your own OS for a tablet, or how bout an entire tablet for that matter! FUCKING LOSER! GET A LIFE!

serpentor

srsly. I think BG could’ve put a little more effort making sure light bulbs aren’t reflecting off the XOOM.

Anonymous

u mad?

Anonymous

You have never even used a Xoom. How would you know?

Fool.

Anonymous

I could not agree with this statement more. Honeycomb is infact the only real TABLET OS to exist, but its not innovative??? Get a life

Darwin

Grow up little boy.

http://twitter.com/dev_ssmn dev chakravarti

agreed!

Brian

Good review Jonathan. I wish this product wasn’t rushed out and was finished. Blackberry Storm all over again! Looks promising though.

Sadly, I will not fork that kind of cash over for a tablet.

http://www.bgr.com Jonathan Geller

Definitely not BlackBerry Storm status. Just a little rushed and not as polished as I’d hoped, still a great product. Expensive, though.

allan

Let’s beat the leader by charging more and having less battery life.

Petey

It’s a want… not a need… I only want it if the prices was under $300. The only reason why I would buy a tablet is for commuting purposes…

http://twitter.com/Justinflynn Justinflynn

very short review!!

the pricing for almot all of the spiffy new Android tabs coming out are just horrible and this is no exception really.

I have resigned myself to the fact that I will be getting a tablet and even though I really want the XOOM it just isn’t selling me for some reason, although the WIFI only version is a might buy!

Jroc869

Wifi only will be my choice.

http://twitter.com/jj_hh1 J Hamburg

wifi only really sucks. your in the train, airport or passenger seat and thats when you start hating youirself for getting a wifi-only version. so did i :)

Jroc869

thats when i pull out my droid x and turn on the wifi hotspot

jjm11

who ever would buy a motorola product is a retard, especially that cost more than an apple product. I had a droid for a year and a half and i promised myself i will never buy a motorola or droid product again. They just TRY to be apple. droid phones were just plan b to 95% of people because the iphone was not on Verizon, the really do suck. get a life if you think droids are better than apple

Jayhammy

You’re a reTARD. You obviously have never tried any other phone except the original Droid.

http://twitter.com/binglut9 Brian

Yeah that is a pretty short minded thing to say because droid is not second to the Iphone buddy last time I checked there were more droid users than Iphone users. Like I said before I like my widgets, notification bar, customizing my homescreen, the diversity of all the different companys coming out with android based phones, whether you want to believe this or not but the reason that apple is making strides to be a lot better is because of android…. Android is pushing apple so you should be grateful for them instead of being a fanboy and saying how bad the first generation OG droid was which I think 99% of people will disagree with you and love that phone to death…SO take your smart @ss comments somewhere else troll

heyhey

lipstick on a pig…………the lipstick is motorola’s commendable hardware…the pig is android….it’s a pig in phones and now in tablets too…..but who cares, the geeks want the specs, not the usability. seriously, this tablet is a total fail which is a good thing for both google and HP. google will learn yet another lesson in the consequences of releasing half-assed crap to the market and HP will have a void to fill with their touchpad…..i am one of those waiting for the touchpad……

Anonymous

BGR….the iFan echo chamber. It’s like the Sinatra Group (“Right on Chairman!”) minus the humor.

Not innovative? Laughable coming from the biggest fan of the company still sticking with a screen of icons 5 generations of devices later.

Jay

Well said…..Also whats with the awful pics, horrible lighting, and finger prints!

serpentor

BG, when you review iPad 2 I’m sure it’ll be all smudged up before you take pics of it with 2 fcking light sources reflecting of the screen set at the dimmest setting, rightttttt????

Anonymous

I think it is a real shame that the device isnt shipped 100% ready. I think it would have been better for the device to have been shipped with flash and the 4G chip built in. It seems like Motorola wanted to be first to market on Android 3.0.

It is also surprising that Motorola didnt skin it with MotoBlur? Interesting.

The device sounds good (despite the short comings) however it is expensive and will lose its appeal purely based on that, especially when the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is coming soon.

iPad1 killer? Seems like it. iPad2 killer? we’ll see.

Palomo32

Xoom available at verizon for $599 on one year plan!

Booboolala2000

Let’s face it, the iPad wasn’t innovative either. Same os as the phone, just a larger screen. At least there are major differences between 2.3 and 3.0. Price is high right now because it is a very rare piece of technology at the moment. Wait till the end of summer or next year, if you want cheaper. And yes laptops can run rings around every tablet. Between my DX and Macbook Pro, I am waiting. But am going to check it out tomorrow.

http://nextparadigms.com Lucian Armasu

I agree. What changed people’s initial negative perception about the iPad being just a bigger iPod Touch were the many apps that were designed for it. I can’t believe Google didn’t get this and didn’t try to get more developers at launch. This does seem like it was rushed, considering the SDK was just released a day before.

Anonymous

The original Android phone – the G1 — was a PoS. Android sub-1.6 was kind of lame. Yet where is Android today?

Android is a very organic ecosystem. The Xoom is not a perfect device, but there will be continual refinements week after week. There will be competitors, and new versions, and a constant cadence. Android does not have one chance — it has a new chance every day.

The apps will start appearing in droves. People who buy the device today get a REMARKABLE web browsing experience (4x faster than the iPad).

I have a review. Here lies yet another copy of the first apple ipad. The motorola xoom. Better in specs and… thats about it. People will compare this and many upcoming iclones to the first apple ipad even though the first apple ipad has been out for over a year now. It runs an updated version of the same laggy slow android os your all used to. It will run you $800 and a 2 year contract awesome. Get it fast because motorola is going to sell tens of dozens of these things.

http://www.erictate.com/ Eric Tate

iPad has been out less than a year. And $800 is without contract. If you’re gonna be a douche, at least do it with some intelligence.

Mritalian76

Sorry 11 months. Big hug different. Moron

Anonymous

I don’t care if it’s $0.99 you sill have to sign a contract. Pretty stupid for something that’s a 3rd device that’s not needed

No, you don’t have to sign a contract. Verizon got smart and decided to take away that requirement. You no longer have the one-month data requirement.

Updated version of the same OS on the phones? Not even close. Have you ever used a newer Android phone and compared it to the Xoom? If you had, you wouldn’t have said that, it’s completely different.

nathan118

Get you facts straight. It’s $800 without contract, $600 on contract. But enjoy being a mindless fanboy.

Jayhammy

A “copy” of the iPad? You’re kidding, right? It’s not just an upgrade in specs, it has FEATURES that the iPad can’t even hope to have. WHy don’t you go to a store and actually compare them side by side and try to be open minded.

Anonymous

Can’t compar side by side till the iPad 2 come out. Get with the program.

Anonymous

Macboy15… explains it all. Does your dad know your up so late on a school night? I

Thewight

I have a 64gig ipad and regretted buying it within days. No flash compatibility, apple-or-die copywrite(!) attitude, RIPOFF prices in itunes. Like the ipad, hate Apple. Ya, buy lovely ipad, love me longtime. Itunes is shite. Okay? There is no debate. Who cares about petty grievances like “thin black border”, couple grams heavier, send off to upgrade- when we have to pay Apple 30%+ above competitive rates to CONVENIENTLY buy music/video?

Consumers want choice and Apple’s current policy seems to have contempt for that eternal reality.

Sosa614

So why didnt you just take it back then if you regretted buying it??

Gaius

Johnathan, I appreciate very much that you are doing a review so quickly for this product. However, I wish you would have written much more about your feelings on the XOOM, because otherwise people are just going to say you are biased against Apple since you seem very terse and dismissive throughout this review. You need to provide a more compehensive statement of why it simply doesn’t work for you. I’d say that you pretty much agreed with Josh from Engadget’s review, but the fact that he wrote so much more about the details that bothered him about the XOOM makes him far harder to criticize.

Jayhammy

Agreed. The review gives negatives but few explanations and details as to why. It just seems like another BGR/Apple-biased review.

Marshefen

I agree. The first part of the review makes it seem like he really likes the device, but then concludes by saying it isn’t innovative, it’s buggy, etc. Nowhere in the review did he mention any specifics about this.